Doctor's Cave Beach — Attraction in Jamaica

It began as a good day, save the stone faced security lady at the front void of a sense of humor. I went with family and friends. We're all Jamaicans, some of us living in other countries. Prices were quoted to us over and over in USD: We're in Jamaica, and the US is not the only country outside of Jamaica. Next, besides the entry fee, we had to pay individually for things such as beds, umbrellas, table for our food and drinks.

Anyway, two of us in the party wanted to start off with mimosas. We were told champagne was not sold by the glass but the bottle. The sparkling wine they had, I had never heard of, but we bought the bottle and a cup of "orange juice" (because God only knows what that was; we all agreed we'd never seen orange juice in that color). So already we're forced to spend far more than we'd planned.

As it is with family and friends, we forgot about our troubles and had a grand old time. When we were ready to leave, we asked for the bill. It was given in USD. We asked for it in JMD. It was $21, 650. I gave our server, Daniella, $22, 600. And told her to keep the change. As much as Jamaica does not have a tipping culture, seeing that our Labour Board strictly holds employers accountable, sometimes we do offer a tip.

Soon enough, Daniella came back over to us to let us know in no uncertain terms that the "service charge" is not on the bill, but usually it was 15-25% and what we had given her was not even 10% and as far as she was concerned, she gave us excellent service. And she stood there waiting, reinforcing her point with repetition, and blatantly adding that she was simply not satisfied.

One can imagine how taken aback we all were because, at the very best, this was in poor taste and supremely unprofessional! None of us had ever encountered such lack of tact and shame. I questioned to myself whether the small tip was insufficient to get her an order of her skin bleaching products.

As she would not leave, my kind friends gave her another 10USD. She said thanks and walked away. We considered speaking to management, but the mood had become so sour, we just wanted to leave. We didn't even stick around to rinse ourselves off. And, thanks to Daniella, we'll opt to explore other beaches with fairer, better services, and employees with more class.

People work hard when they leave this country, and the last thing we need is to be "hustled" out of every dollar our blood, sweat...

I stayed at the Deja hotel across the road, access to Doctors cave beach is included in the hotel room prices and the hotel provided me a beach towel. -I only went here once on a monday morning from 9am-11am. (its open from 8:30am to 5pm). -while i was there, there was very few people on the beach. maybe 5 or 6 in total. 3 in the water. A few service people setting up the bars and resturants, and some rakeing the sand on the beach. There was i think 3 life guard towers with life guards watching. -Beach was nice, pure sand, kinda light sand like coral sand or something. water was clear. you can see on google maps satellite view that there is some patches of sea grass and rocks in the deeper water. I did see some fish around these rocks, less in the grass. -there is some trees for shade, or you can rent a umbrella and chair. There is floating trampolines (2 of them) in the water to use. -because i used a ticket from hotel to get in, or maybe they just do for everyone, but i got a stamp on the way out that was good for the day, so i could return. -there is at least one long wooden dock you can walk out on and look in the water or watch planes landing.

Overall it was a great sunny morning on a empty beach, but i think durring cruise ship times and afternoons are busy times and...

All my years living and visiting Jamaica, I never made a stop at Doctor's cave until now. Totally regret it. What a great beach!

The service drops off when the cruise ships are in port and the food is ok. But the beach is well kept and the sand is amazing. You don't find that mixed of sand and sea shells on much beaches in Jamaica, that's not to say the other beaches aren't good. You just don't see those small sea shell mixed in the sand.

It's about $8-9 US entry fee which is good! Another $7-8 for rental of beach chairs and umbrella each. Again not bad! Just be aware if the cruise ship is docked for the day, that's going to bring a crowd.

Even with the cruise ship community there's still space to get around and enjoy yourself. They have coconut trees for extra shade, outdoor and indoor showers with a changing room. I have to give it up to the employees, the property was well kept and the service other than the bar was 5 star and that's a lot coming from a "yardie"

Here's something you should do when you get in the water. Push your feet into the sand, then move them back and forth. The bottom of your feet become so smooth it like a therapeutic treatment, all while watching the airplane landing.

Enjoy yourself Parri! Mr...